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The Helping Hands Jamaica Foundation (HHJF) is a young organisation that has done a lot of good in its three short years of existence. Formed in 2006 with a mandate to assist Jamaica's health and education sectors, the organisation has so far donated more than C$127,000 (J$9 million) to its Jamaican recipients. Committed to making a difference for its recipients,...

The Government has added $600 million to the budget for the School Feeding Programme for 2009/10 under the Ministry of Education. According to the figures available in the First Supplementary Estimates tabled in the House of Representatives on Tuesday (September 22), the additional $600 million increases the budget for the students' nutrition programme in 2009/10 from $932,110 to $1.5 billion....

Minister of National Security, Sen. the Hon. Dwight Nelson, has congratulated thirteen (13) juveniles at the Rio Cobre Juvenile Correctional Centre in St. Catherine, who have obtained passes in the 2009 Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) examinations. The juveniles obtained between one and three passes in Principles of Business, Principles of Accounts and Social Studies. In his letter congratulating the inmates,...

Cabinet has approved the sum of $62.06 million to complete construction of the Islington Early Childhood Institution in St. Mary. Construction is to be undertaken by Howard Construction Company Limited. When completed, the school will be a standard for modern schools and will occupy 6,000 square feet of space. The condition of the existing one-room structure, which houses four classrooms,...

The Ministry of Education's (MOE) thrust towards achieving 100 per cent literacy at the primary school level by 2015 was boosted Wednesday (September 16), with the opening of an Enrichment Centre at the Lyssons Primary School, St Thomas. The Centre was established through the Enrichment Centre Initiative, a partnership between the Ministry and the Digicel Foundation. It is now one...

Minister of National Security, Hon. Dwight Nelson, has said that the Government's Safe School Programme has been successful in the schools in which it has been tested. He said that, based on this success, he will be signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Education to expand it to other institutions. "I will be signing an MoU...

The Ministry of Education has said that classes for the 115 students placed at the Steer Town Primary and Junior High School, after sitting the Grade Nine Achievement Test (GNAT), should begin next week. A brief, provided by the Ministry, stated that 90 per cent of refurbishing work on the building, which will accommodate the students, has been completed, with...

Representatives of the European Commission's (EC) Delegation to Jamaica and the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) signed contracts and broke ground for a multi-million dollar expansion project at the Maverley Primary and Junior High School, Kingston, on Wednesday (September 16) Head of the EC Delegation, Ambassador Marco Mazzochi Alemanni; Managing Director of JSIF, Scarlette Gillings; Member of Parliament for North...

Minister of Education, Hon. Andrew Holness, has reiterated the Government's decision, that no child will be allowed to sit the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT), without achieving mastery on the Grade Four Literacy Test. Mr. Holness, who outlined the new competence-based transition policy in the House of Representatives on September 15, said that if necessary, children would be allowed to...

Education Minister, Hon. Andrew Holness, says greater emphasis will have to be placed on reading comprehension, citing less than satisfactory results in the 2009 Grade Four Literacy Test. Data from the Ministry show that on the three sub-tests of skills - Word Recognition, Reading Comprehension and Writing - children performed best on word recognition, with some 5,313 of them not...

Chairman of the Early Childhood Commission (ECC), Professor Maureen Samms-Vaughn, has stressed the importance of investing in early childhood development, noting that spending in this area offers the highest rate of return to the society. "Early childhood development is important to Jamaica as it is to any other country, because this is the time that children's brains are developing maximally...

Senior Territorial Education Officer at the Ministry of Education, Mrs. Yvonne McLeod, has said that children learn best when they are interested in a subject, or when they are stimulated to achieve an objective. "Learning does not take place, until it can be demonstrated through application modes. Children learn best when their interest is aroused, or when they are stimulated...